1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mouse exhibiting pathologic conditions similar to obesity and diabetes in humans.
2. Background Art
An animal model developing human disease is useful to elucidate the cause of the disease in humans or screen therapies therefor.
Obesity and diabetes have become a major problem in humans in recent years; it has been desired to elucidate pathogenic mechanisms therefor and to develop new therapeutic agents thereagainst.
Various animals have been developed as animal models for obesity and diabetes. For example, there have been reported a db/db mouse characterized by leptin receptor deletion and hyperphagia (see Diabetologia, Vol. 6: 268-273, 1970), a KK mouse (see Diabetes & metabolism, Vol. 23, Suppl 2: 38-46, 1997), an ob/ob mouse characterized by leptin gene abnormality and hyperphagia, and a mouse developing obesity and diabetes under feeding with high-fat diet (see JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2005-110632).
However, these mice took long to develop obesity or diabetes, and did not show a significant degree of obesity in a short period of time. In addition, the mouse described in patent document 1 was not a mouse in which the trait of spontaneously developing obesity was genetically established.
To elucidate the pathogenic mechanism of human obesity and diabetes and develop a therapeutic agent therefor, there has been required a model animal spontaneously developing obesity and diabetes like humans and having characteristics of human obesity and diabetes. The present invention meets such demands and is intended to provide a mouse which has the characteristics of early developing visceral fat type obesity and also having concurrent diabetes and hyperlipemia and in which the trait is genetically established and recessively inherited.